U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez seeks reelection as his father’s corruption trial looms

About eight months ago, it seemed likely Rep. Rob Menendez would be seeking his second term in Congress with only nominal Democratic challengers, if any.

But the indictment of his father, Sen. Bob Menendez, on Sept. 22 turned the Menendez name, once a selling point for the young congressman, into a potential liability. It not only spurred a challenge from a politician familiar with the bare-knuckles politics of Hudson County — Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla — it also gave Bhalla a chance to spend months trying to tie the senator’s alleged crimes to his son.

“I’m not surprised that folks feel the sharks are circling the water, thinking he might be vulnerable enough to be taken out as an incumbent. This is the election to do it,” said Fran Moran, chair of the political science department at New Jersey City University.

The race in the 8th Congressional District — a heavily Democratic one made up mostly of Hudson County towns — is perhaps the state’s nastiest 2024 contest, with Rep. Menendez trashing Bhalla as unethical and criticizing his stewardship of Hoboken and Bhalla tarring Menendez as the “entitled son of corrupt Bob ‘Gold Bars’ Menendez.” The elder Menendez is accused of accepting gold bars and other gifts in exchange for favors, an accusation the senator has denied. His trial is expected to begin May 13.

In interviews with the New Jersey Monitor, the candidates, including businessman Kyle Jasey, offered similar policy positions: expanding pathways to citizenship for immigrants, addressing the housing crisis, funding community projects, making health care more affordable, and tackling climate change.

But the accusations against Sen. Menendez remain Bhalla’s chief attack line against Rep. Menendez. Bhalla said the younger Menendez is a “replication of the same apparatus” — supported by same major donors, such as Don Scarinci, who donated the maximum amount to Menendez and was a key advisor to his father, overlapping advisors including Mike Soliman of Mercury Public Affairs, and backing from the same Hudson County political bosses. 

“We need to change, to get to a place with people who are not anointed by way of their connections with powerful people, but are elected with the qualifications,” Bhalla told the New Jersey Monitor.

Bhalla served on the Hoboken City Council from 2009 until he was elected mayor in 2017. He touted the city’s economic upgrades from investors and traffic safety — the city has had no traffic deaths for seven years, which Bhalla attributed to the city’s “vision zero” initiative. He also pointed to the city’s resiliency parks as innovative methods to fight climate change. 

Bhalla feels this is the kind of track record voters should reward with a promotion to Congress. 

Menendez, who won election to Congress two years ago, said he’s addressed over 1,500 constituent concerns, primarily immigration issues in a district where about 40% of residents are foreign-born.

He pointed to $11 billion in federal investments for the district, largely through funding for the Gateway project and other rail projects. Menendez joined Congress when control of the House flipped from Democratic to Republican. If it flips again, he said, he could help bring more investment to the 8th.

“If you look at the money that we brought back through all the community funding projects, brought back money to almost every single municipality for critical projects that they need to make their residents’ lives better — we did the work,” said Menendez.

Menendez is not named in any of the indictments and maintains he has no connections to his father’s alleged crimes. He said Bhalla has “no bottom when it comes to how low he can go to score what he thinks are political points.” He noted Bhalla endorsed him two years ago.

“Ravi used to text me and thank me for what we were doing and what good advocates we were for Hoboken. So clearly, only one thing has changed, and that’s the one thing Ravi wants to talk about,” Menendez said.

Moran said it’s doubtful competitors would have jumped into the race without the backdrop of Sen. Menendez’s corruption case tarnishing the family name. The younger Menendez won his seat in a landslide — carrying more than 70% of the vote — despite cries of nepotism from challengers who said he won only because of his father’s connections.

“It’s strange because I think Rob benefitted from the name during the first election, and now it’s coming back to haunt him. It’s just odd that you’d see a challenge like this for no real reason besides, ‘I think I can beat him because his name’s weak,’” Moran said.

The county line’s impact 

New Jersey Democrats will see a different ballot in the June primary, with a federal judge in March barring the use of county-line ballots.

Political observers believe the new ballot — which groups candidates by the office they’re seeking, instead of whether they received backing from county party officials — will give candidates not backed by party leaders a better chance at winning. In this race, Menendez has the support of the Hudson County Democratic Organization. 

Moran said it’s unclear how the new ballot will affect the race, but he believes the county party’s support of Menendez will give him an advantage because its get-out-the-vote teams will help in this dense part of the state.

“In the neighborhood, they’re ringing the doorbells, they’re coming in groups, they’re speaking Spanish,” Moran said. “It’s like, they’re ready to deal with the population and it’s really, really effective.”

Unlike during Menendez’s first run, he has a competitor this time who is fundraising at roughly the same pace. Bhalla reported raising $649,077 in the first three months of the year, with about $991,000 on hand, campaign filings show. Meanwhile, Menendez reported raising $677,775 in that same period, with a war chest of about $1.2 million.

Jasey is a businessman from Jersey City who hasn’t held public office. He raised just $4,648 last quarter. On paper, it looks like he’s going to get crushed, he conceded, but there are “a lot of unknowns this year.”

He had his name drawn to be placed first on the ballot — the “best ballot position, regardless of how much money they raised,” he said.

“What’s that worth? I don’t know, but I definitely would rather be there than the other two spots,” he added.